Barriers and Bridges
by Lutralutra
Summary: Itachi, no longer a member of Akatsuki, decides to reunite with his brother and appeals to Naruto for help.  Sasuke, meanwhile, is still bent on revenge. Neither brother knows what's left of their relationship, but they're about to find out. [Nonyaoi]
1. Chapter 1: Changes of Heart

**Barriers and Bridges**

**by LutraShinobi**

Disclaimer: To quote Thomas Jefferson, "He who knows best knows how little he knows." However, I do know one thing, and that is that I don't own Naruto.

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Chapter 1 - Changes of Heart

The crackling sound of wood being dropped onto flames disturbed the peace of the forest, followed by a thud as the wood-dropper seated himself by his newly-built fire. If anyone had happened to be watching this (which, coincidentally, someone _was_), they would have noted in particular the spiky blond hair and the vivid, youthful blue eyes of the man who had made the fire. Although, really, he could hardly be called a man; more of a boy, except that there was too much man for him to be called a simple boy.

The man/boy's name was Uzumaki Naruto, and he was restless and impatient. He was on his way back to his hometown of Konoha after having exerted himself on a one-man mission as one of Konoha's young ninja. _By this time tomorrow, I'll be home, _he though, elated at the prospect. _I'll be able to eat ramen, and see Sasuke and Sakura-chan. _He was referring to his two cherished comrades and close friends, the dark, cold Uchiha prodigy, and the affectionate, pink-haired kunoichi Haruno Sakura.

_And I mustn't forget Kakashi-sensei, _Naruto thought, a smile spreading across his whiskered face as his eccentric teacher came to mind. Hatake Kakashi was famous for using his Sharingan ability to copy more techniques than any other ninja, but (at least in Konoha) was equally renowned for his taste in explicit, "dirty" books.

Naruto's reminiscing was interrupted as he became aware of a foreign Chakra, very near to his location. It was a strong Chakra, but not the strongest he'd ever felt. However, it put him on his guard. He stood up, adopting a defensive stance, kunai at the ready. "Show yourself!" Naruto commanded.

"As you wish," a voice said, seemingly out of nowhere. It was a quiet, low voice, with very little colour in it, but nevertheless a voice to pay attention to. Naruto noticed a figure making its way towards him, weaving through the bush. He could discern that it was wearing black, but when he tried to see the face it always seemed to be obscured by a tree.

Suddenly, the figure was only a few feet away from him, and its identity hit Naruto full force. Although it wasn't physical, Naruto staggered backwards at the impact. This wasn't a face Naruto knew well, but it was strikingly similar to one that he did. The sleek black hair, although styled differently, was the same. The cold, calculating eyes were the same. The hard, emotionless expression was the same. What wasn't the same were the premature wrinkles on this countenance. _Sasuke... _this was the turn Naruto's thoughts immediately took. _But that's not him... is it... no, it can't be..._

Naruto remembered the first time he'd looked upon this face. It had stared impassively down at him from a hotel room doorway, and chills had gone down his back at the sight of it. Identical chills affected him now, and he suppressed a shiver.

"Uchiha...Uchiha...Itachi," he whispered. The name felt strange as it crossed his lips. Strange and sinister, just like the person it belonged to.

"Uzumaki Naruto-san," Uchiha Itachi, for it was indeed he, replied.

"Have you been following me?" Naruto demanded. He was nervous, but he was good at hiding and ignoring fear.

"Yes," Itachi answered, his voice cold and detached.

_For how long? _Naruto considered asking, then decided he didn't want to know. Having an S-Class criminal who had single-handedly ruined your best friend's life trail you through the forest was very creepy, to say the least.

Naruto raised his kunai a little higher, and Itachi immediately put up his hands in a clear gesture of peace. He closed his eyes as well. This would have seemed strange to someone who had never seen Itachi in action, but not to Naruto. Itachi's Mangekyou Sharingan, an illusionary technique he put into effect by making eye contact with his victim, was his most dangerous weapon. "I have no harmful intentions," he said.

"Towards me, maybe," Naruto said, his lip curling upwards to reveal slightly larger than normal canines. Itachi knew what he was getting at, and responded, "Nor towards Sasuke. Or towards anyone else."

"It's so easy to lie, though," Naruto said, not relaxing his tense stance one bit. "Especially for someone like you." He spat the words out with as much venom as he could muster.

"Not entirely true," Itachi deadpanned. "I am a criminal, but a relatively honest one."

" 'Honest' and 'criminal' - two words you don't often hear together," Naruto snarled. How he hated this guy, who had so mechanically massacred Sasuke's family, massacring Sasuke's happiness with it.

"Not usually," Itachi agreed unsmilingly. "But I am not usual, either."

"_Not usual_," Naruto repeated the words mockingly. "That's one way of putting it."

Itachi's reply was not a question, but a statement. "You hate me."

"Yes." Naruto was blunt.

"You think me evil."

"Yes."

There was a long silence. Then Itachi asked, very politely, "May I sit by your fire?" Naruto stared at him. "_No,_" he said deliberately. Itachi backed up a few paces. "Is this better?"

"I wish I could say no, but it's not my forest. Sit where you want, just don't try anything funny. If you do, I'll kick you back to the Stone Age," Naruto said aggressively. He and Itachi sat simultaneously, on opposite sides of the fire. The sparks flying up in front of Naruto's face, with the orange light of the flames washing over him, combined with his murderous expression to make him look quite frightening.

Naruto soon grew uncomfortable staring at Itachi, but he didn't want to look away - it was dangerous to take your eyes off the enemy. Finally he blurted, "What do you want?"

Itachi's empty eyes roved over his face before he said evenly, "I desire assistance."

"That's what annoys me about you freaking Uchihas," Naruto grumbled. "Instead of saying 'I want help' like a normal person, you have to take the long way around with 'I desire assistance'. You even have to _talk _more sophisticatedly than everyone else!"

It was a testament to how long Itachi had been blocking his emotions that he showed not a trace of expression at that, merely saying, "However you wish to say it, I mean it."

"Well, you can mean it all you want, but it's going to get you nowhere, since I do _not _desire to assist you," Naruto retorted snappishly, folding his arms over his chest.

Itachi said nothing, waiting patiently. He had marked Naruto down from the first as someone who couldn't leave anything alone, and he was to be proven right as the blond shinobi shifted and asked, curious in spite of himself, "What exactly do you want help for?"

"You are a friend of my brother's, are you not?" Itachi inquired. Unbidden, the image of a young Sasuke, eyes pleading, flashed through the mind of the rebel-nin.

"You've caused Sasuke enough suffering," Naruto said shortly.

"I know," Itachi said, his feelings as hidden as ever. "That's why I want to remedy that, as best I can."

"So, after killing your entire clan and ruining Sasuke's life, you're just going to waltz in as if nothing happened and say, 'Yo, little bro! Give me a hug!'??" Naruto said incredulously.

"My plan was to be slightly more subtle," Itachi said. He didn't even wince.

"And Akatsuki is okay with this?" Naruto said, still disbelieving. Akatsuki was the criminal organization of which Itachi was a member.

"I am no longer a member of Akatsuki," Itachi explained simply. "I, as you say, quit."

"And they let you." The incredulity hadn't left Naruto's voice, but now that he looked away from Itachi's face, he noticed that the black cloak Itachi wore no longer bore a red cloud pattern, a symbol of Akatsuki.

"As you know, my eyes are not what they used to be. Use of the Mangekyou Sharingan has taken an estimated 35 percent of my vision away. Even the normal Sharingan is damaging to my eyesight now. As a result, I am not the effective shinobi Akatsuki wants. Using this as my main argument, I was able to persuade them to release me from my service."

"That sounds likely," Naruto said, bitingly sarcastic.

Itachi didn't say that it had been a close shave. The Akatsuki Leader had been in favour of killing him rather than letting him go, but had eventually left it up to a vote by the other members. The only person who hadn't voted to release Itachi was Deidara, who was still sore from the time Itachi had used the Mangekyou on him upon joining the organization. But of course, there was no reason to elaborate on what he had already said.

"So... what prompted this random change of heart? Last time I heard, you were practically egging your brother on in his revenge," Naruto probed.

"When I lost my principal fighting ability, I realized what else I had lost," was Itachi's cryptic answer. Naruto was silent for a long time, thinking it over, and this time it was Itachi who broke the silence. "Will you aid me to... mend things with my sibling?"

"I don't know..." Naruto said slowly. He had no guarantee that Itachi was telling the truth, and was hesitant to get involved in anything that might bring danger or pain to Sasuke.

"I will give you an hour to think," Itachi said, rising. "Then I will return. I expect an answer." He turned and vanished. As Itachi's cloak whipped around him, Naruto thought he saw something fly out of it. He bit back a cry of "Wait, you dropped something!" He definitely wanted to see whatever it was.

Waiting a few moments to make sure Itachi was nowhere in the vicinity, Naruto walked over to the spot the other shinobi had recently vacated and picked up a white rectangle of thick paper off the ground. He turned it over carefully.

It was a photograph. It showed a much younger Itachi, face less lined, seated on the steps of what Naruto recognized as the Uchiha compound. But what made it special was that beside him sat Sasuke, probably only seven or eight, looking adoringly up at his older brother. Itachi had his arm around Sasuke's shoulders, pulling him close. And what was _really _amazing? They were both smiling, smiling as if the world were perfect. How quickly that illusion had been destroyed.

Naruto stared at the picture, very much affected by it. Had Itachi dropped it on purpose? But even if he had, it didn't change the fact that he'd carried it around for about ten years. _But if having this meant so much to him, why did he throw it all away? _Naruto didn't know the answer to that question, didn't know if he ever would. He didn't know if he was making the right decision either. But he had decided, and that was that.

"Itachi!" He hollered up into the trees. "I'm ready to answer!"

Itachi reappeared in front of him, calm and unruffled. If he was anxious or hopeful at all, it didn't show.

"I'll help you. We leave for Konoha tomorrow at dawn," Naruto said briskly.

Itachi digested this response for only a moment before asking, "What made up your mind?" Naruto raised one eyebrow; emotion was nearly impossible to recognize in someone like Itachi, but was that a tinge of curiosity he detected behind the cool, composed words?

Unhesitatingly, Naruto handed the photograph back to Itachi. "I believe in second chances."

Itachi stared at the picture, expression unfathomable. Then he looked up at Naruto.

"Arigatou."

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There's the first chapter of my new story "Barriers and Bridges". Please note that there will be absolutely no yaoi in this fic - no SasuNaru, or ItaNaru, or ItaSasu, or anything of the kind. Friendship and brotherhood only! Well, hope you liked it. Chapter 2 will come... well... sometime. For this story, I really can't predict how long it will take me to find inspiration. At the moment, I have absolutely no idea what's going to happen next :P Thanks for taking the time to read, and now you've done that, please_, please_, with a cherry on top, REVIEW! 


	2. Chapter 2: The Remains of Life

Here's Chapter 2, for your enjoyment! Man, why is it so hard to come up with chapter titles for this story? Even the main title was hard. But then again it always is, for me. Normally I leave the story's naming till the end, but that doesn't work so well here :P Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I owe you one!

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Chapter 2 - The Remains of Life 

Travelling through the forest had never been so awkward for Naruto. He knew Itachi was there with him - he could feel his Chakra, and sense the presence of a fellow human being at his side. But all too often he found himself doubting that the presence was really _human_. He had never met anyone so chillingly silent, like a moving stone statue. Besides his Chakra, Naruto got nothing from Itachi, nothing at all, and this made him very uneasy. _At least there's no killer intent there, _he thought.

Finally he couldn't take it anymore. "Say something!" Naruto blurted.

"Pardon?" Itachi said, with extreme politeness better befitting someone who dealt with royalty than someone who dabbled in criminal matters. Although for Itachi, it was more a case of drowning than dabbling.

"Just - talk. This silence is driving me crazy!"

Itachi paused. "We could discuss our plan."

"What plan?" Naruto demanded. "I'm not even sure of the goal!"

"I can certainly clarify the latter," Itachi said mechanically. "The goal is to get me close to Sasuke, first of all, so that I can make contact with him."

"I'm more worried about Sasuke's reaction when you get to him," Naruto said apprehensively. He had a fleeting, but frighteningly realistic, vision of himself hanging onto Sasuke, his friend's Sharingan eyes maddened with hate and the blue glow of Chidori around his hand, lunging for Itachi, while he, Naruto, dug his heels into the ground in a desperate, futile attempt to hold him back. Not an image be wanted to come true, _ever_.

"Sasuke's reaction, but not mine?" Itachi asked. He showed no emotion, but one black eyebrow raised itself slightly.

"Well, yours too, but you seem to have good intentions. Sasuke will lose it if he sees you. And when Sasuke loses it, he really _loses _it," Naruto answered in complete honesty, although he felt a twinge; was he trusting Itachi too easily, too quickly? "And," more hesitantly, "if he does try to... attack you... I'm not sure whether I should..."

"Stop him?" Itachi finished. Maybe it was Naruto's imagination, but he thought Itachi sounded amused, in a dark, disturbing kind of way. "I don't deny that it is my brother's right to kill me. In all honesty, I don't care if he does. But if, unlikely as it seems, he gives me another chance, I will take it. I don't believe that he will give me that chance - unless he has outside input that he values. And that input, I'm hoping, will come from you."

Naruto looked away, not replying. He didn't think that Itachi fully comprehended the extent, the power of Sasuke's hatred and lust for vengeance. He remembered fighting for his life as he tried to hold back Sasuke when he left to seek the skill to defeat Itachi, and doubted that the dark Uchiha avenger would let him stand in the way this time around.

Naruto decided to stop talking. Itachi was reading him a little too well for comfort, and all of Itachi's suggestions put images he'd prefer to avoid in his head. _This is one of those times, _he thought, _when the way to go is to wait until the moment itself and then improvise. _A slight twitch of Itachi's lips, though unnoticed by the blond, would have told the attentive observer that the eldest Uchiha had perhaps guessed Naruto's thoughts.

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It was late evening when the two shinobi reached the outskirts of Konoha. Naruto strode blithely forward, heading straight for the gates, when he noticed that Itachi was no longer at his side. He turned around, frowning. Itachi stood in the bushes, watching him quizzically. 

"Well, what?" Naruto snapped. He just wanted to get home.

"While you are perfectly within your rights to go into Konoha, I am not so privileged," Itachi stated the obvious. "Therefore, I think our means of entry should be more subtle."

"Ah, oh," Naruto said, embarrassed at his own stupidity. "Right, well, I guess we'll just have to smuggle you in somehow." He felt brain-dead, completely void of ideas. He hoped Itachi had a plan. If he was anything like his younger brother, he should.

"We can still use the front gates," Itachi pointed out. "If I employ a genjutsu, I will pass unnoticed."

"Good idea," Naruto said, a sudden mood swing bringing back his enthusiasm and optimism. "Go for it!"

Itachi simply put his hands together and vanished. "Huh?? Where the heck are you?!" Naruto shouted, panicking. Was Itachi trying to give him the slip? And if so, what for?

"Stay calm, I beg of you, Uzumaki-san," Itachi's low, but oddly reassuring at the moment, voice was still coming from right in front of Naruto, but the latter could see no one. "This genjutsu, modeled after the concealing abilities of the chameleon, merely causes me to take on the characteristics of the landscape behind me. Therefore, I can be considered invisible."

"Yeah...sure," Naruto said, not sure if he had completely understood the explanation (there were a lot of big words in there, after all!) but relieved that Itachi hadn't ditched him. "Oh, and don't call me Uzumaki-san. All that formal stuff is _so _not me."

They got past the Jounins standing guard at the gates with relative ease, despite the fact that Naruto kept shooting nervous glances around himself, trying to make sure Itachi was still there, although of course that was illogical since he couldn't have seen Itachi anyway.

"Can't you become visible now?" Naruto pleaded. He _really _hated walking around unable to see his companion, especially since he didn't entirely trust that companion.

"I will reappear when we reach the Uchiha clan compound," Itachi said calmly. "I could still be recognized now, being somewhat infamous in town." After a pause, he inquired, "Sasuke does still live in the compound, I assume?"

"Yes," Naruto replied.

"I thought so. After all, I did not destroy the place," Itachi said.

"No, you only destroyed the life inside the place," Naruto muttered. Itachi had no response to that.

A few minutes of walking brought them to the home of the once-glorious Uchiha clan. Itachi took it in silently, disabling the genjutsu. The place seemed to be in decent shape, the paint not peeling, the windows unbroken, altogether giving off a clean, well-kept air.

But Itachi knew that there was something missing, and he knew what it was too. Life. He remembered the times when many people had lived here, a happy home with a happy family. Then there had been laughter and talk and noise. There had been children, adults, elders, all of them giving the place their own individual atmosphere. Now, that was all gone, and although he knew Sasuke lived there still, the compound felt abandoned, broken, the mere remains of something that had once been far greater. As Naruto had pointed out, it was _his _fault that all the life had gone.

Itachi felt a strange feeling, like a constriction of his chest and stomach. It wrapped itself around a part of him he could not sense, but he knew it was there, and the feeling squeezed it hard. He suspected it was his soul. He searched his mind for a term he could use to describe the feeling. When this failed, he reluctantly turned to his lately somewhat neglected heart instead, and there he found it.

Uchiha Itachi, perhaps for the first time in his life (or perhaps not), was feeling guilty.

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And there is Chapter 2, all done with! It was actually quite fun writing it. I'm liking this story more as it progresses, even if I just pretty much improvise as I go along - no storyline or anything (so there, Language Arts teachers! It_ is_ possible to write a good story without a web, or storyboard, or whatever :P ...Or is it? Is this story good?). Sorry if I'm dragging out the prelude to Sasuke and Itachi's meeting, but I promise, it'll come in Chapter 3. [Grovels pathetically at the feet of readers Please, _please _review! 


	3. Chapter 3: The Remains of the Soul

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... Chapter 3!! Well, now that introductions are over, I'd just like to say thank you to everyone who read and reviewed - you guys are the best, keep it up. This chapter's longer than the previous ones...I think...so reward my efforts by submitting a nice, long, juicy review!

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Chapter 3 - The Remains of the Soul 

"Man, it's good to see you!" Naruto said in obvious relief, looking at Itachi. Then, realizing that what he'd said didn't have the meaning he'd intended, he corrected, "See you _again, _I mean...or...what the heck, I give up." He scowled. Itachi, knowing full well that Naruto was talking about the lifting of the genjutsu, chose not to comment. Not that he would have had time for it anyway, because at that moment, a figure emerged from the Uchiha compound in front of them.

Both Naruto and Itachi immediately snapped to attention. It could only be one person. A tall, thin youth with narrow, dark eyes, raven-black hair, and a cold expression. "Sasuke..." Naruto started. Itachi didn't say the name out loud, but he was thinking it in his head.

But Uchiha Sasuke had already noticed them. The sudden change of expression on his face was astounding. Shock flitted across it, soon replaced by a long-harboured, uncontrollable rage and hatred. He couldn't believe that this - this _bastard, _would have the nerve to walk right into the area where he had caused so much bloodshed. Almost of its own accord, blue Chakra began to glow around his hand, accompanied by a sound somewhat similar to the chirping of birds. All of his surroundings seemed to fade from his vision - all he could see was the man standing only a short distance away, his unfathomable black eyes just as Sasuke remembered.

Sasuke, his entire body shaking with the thrill of fury, drew his fist back, and then he was running, sprinting straight for his brother, who stood there calmly, accepting his fate. A roaring noise, spurring him on, filled his ears and blocked out the sound of his Chidori. Itachi was only a few metres away now - he was almost there - he imagined sinking his fist into his brother's chest with a deep, savage pleasure.

His mental image was not to come true, however, for at that moment, something with a blond, spiky head and an orange body materialized in his path. _Naruto!!!?? _Sasuke thought, his astonishment and horror halting his frenzy. He had Chidori-ed Naruto once, and he did not want to try again. Coming to a skidding stop, he slammed his fist into the ground, making a deep, jagged hole in the pavement.

Straightening, Sasuke craned his neck to look over Naruto's shoulder, and saw that Itachi still stood there impassively. His earlier rage returning, he tried to shove Naruto out of the way, but the blond stood firm. "What the heck are you doing, Naruto???!!" Sasuke demanded, unusually emotional in his passionate wrath. "Don't you know who this guy is, and what he's done??"

"Do you think I would've brought him all the way here without knowing who he is?" Naruto retorted, rolling his eyes. "Of course I know - he's your big brother, teme."

"That's not all!" Sasuke hissed. "He's a cold-blooded murderer, responsible for the deaths of my family! Now get out of the way before I force you to! You already made me waste one Chidori."

Naruto saw that this wasn't the time for one of those anti-revenge lectures - Sasuke wasn't going to listen, and he would be blasted out of the way along with Itachi if he resisted too long. "Sasuke, stop!" he ordered. "And Itachi's not the person he used to be. He dropped out of Akatsuki, and he can't use the Mangekyou anymore. He just wants a second chance!"

"A second chance?" Sasuke repeated. His face contorted itself into an ugly mask of incredulity mingled with purest loathing. "_A second chance? _I've been waiting for this revenge since I was a little boy! He killed - he killed _everyone! _He deserves to die for that, and he will. By _my _hand, here and now." With that, he gave Naruto a hard push, knocking him to the ground.

In a flash, Naruto was back on his feet. "Itachi's not the only one who ever betrayed those close to him! Have you forgotten what a second chance did for _you??" _Naruto yelled. He punched Sasuke in the face. Sasuke staggered backwards, blood streaming from his nose.

Naruto, anger pulsing through his veins, jogged away, pausing to say to Itachi, "You're on your own for now. I'll be back." He couldn't deal with this, or he and Sasuke would soon be the ones fighting. He would just have to hope his words had had some effect, and that Itachi could handle the situation.

When Sasuke's head had stopped ringing, and his vision had refocused after Naruto's blow, Naruto was nowhere in sight. But Itachi, who hadn't moved an inch from his original spot, remained. Fury burned in Sasuke's eyes as he looked upon the man who had ruined his young life, but behind that something else burned - Naruto's parting words. _Itachi's not the only one who ever betrayed those close to him! Have you forgotten what a second chance did for you? _He didn't like to think of what had prompted those stinging sentences. He knew that he had betrayed Naruto and Sakura just like Itachi had betrayed him and his family, leaving them behind and even trying to harm them later, placing his desire for power above them. He had been amazed that they had forgiven him so readily - he still hadn't forgiven himself. But they had, and welcomed him back with open arms, an embrace he was only just learning to return. _They gave me a second chance, _Sasuke thought, _a chance to have what I'd thrown away - friendship, love, happiness._ But could he extend the same courtesy to Itachi?

Itachi had murdered his family, stolen the life he loved, and he couldn't forgive that. Not now, perhaps not ever. But he thought of Naruto, who bore no ill will towards him or any of the villagers who had cruelly abused him in his childhood. Sasuke felt uncertain and slightly abashed. Naruto could forgive so easily - he never held a grudge towards those who hurt him terribly. Sasuke wasn't the same; he didn't think he could forgive or forget just like that. But if Naruto had actually _succeeded, _perhaps he could at least try? Naruto had always supported him, even when Sasuke had been fighting _against _him. Maybe he could do this, for Naruto, for Sakura, for everyone who had kept believing in him... He felt the usual surge of hate as his gaze returned to Itachi, but he suppressed it with a superhuman effort. He itched to use Chidori on this _evil _man, but he resisted.

Itachi had been watching everything with an eye that, despite being severely weakened over time, was no less observant when it came to details. Sasuke's first reaction had been extreme, but no more so than Itachi had predicted - but he hadn't predicted what had come next. He would never know what prompted Naruto to throw himself in front of Chidori like that, especially for someone that had attacked him numerous times in the past - namely, Itachi. But the strange, incomprehensible blond had done exactly that, and held a brief but meaningful battle of words with Sasuke.

As Itachi had expected, Sasuke refused to listen to Naruto's arguments. But that last bit seemed to have hit him hard and stuck itself in his mind. Itachi didn't know the exact story behind Naruto's harsh words, but he gathered that Sasuke had once betrayed Naruto just like Itachi had betrayed him, and that Naruto had given him a second chance. Probably something that had happened around the time when Sasuke left Konoha to train under Orochimaru. Itachi kept relatively close tabs on his brother, but his relations with Naruto had always been a bit of a mystery - they were certainly of a bizarre nature.

Anyway, after Naruto had left, Itachi had seen the beginning of a new train of thought on his younger sibling's face. The anger and desire to kill were still there, but they were having to make way for something else, which Itachi wasn't exactly sure of. Guilt, sorrow, shame, they were all there, and mixed together they seemed to create an absurdly powerful emotion. At least, Itachi figured that it would have to be absurdly powerful to keep Sasuke from handing him a one-way ticket to the Underworld with the encouraging message of, "I hope you burn in the fire of your sins for all eternity!"

For the moment, though, Sasuke didn't seem as bent on his destruction as Itachi had thought him to be. He merely stood there, arms hanging limply at his sides, apparently in the middle of some painful internal struggle. Itachi took an experimental step forward. Sasuke's eyebrows jumped about an inch up his forehead, but no Chidori, so that was good, right? Cautiously, Itachi approached conversation.

"...Otouto?" Immediately, Itachi was shocked at himself, although his well-practiced face showed it only for a second. It had been years since he'd called Sasuke "otouto". And he knew that his tongue had been fully intending to say "Sasuke". Somehow, "Otouto" had slipped out. The only explanation Itachi had was that his mind, or heart, or maybe that mysterious _soul _thing, had different ideas. This made him uncomfortable, as he was accustomed to having full control of all his body parts.

Sasuke was just as surprised. Why had Itachi used that affectionate term for "younger brother", when there was anything but love between them? What made it all the more confusing was that Itachi had looked amazed at himself for saying it too. Well, "Otouto" was just fine, but saying "Nii-san" in return was a bit much for Sasuke, so he said coldly, "Itachi."

Itachi said nothing in response, not findng any intelligent answer, so Sasuke continued. "Why have you come back?"

"To fulfill my duty," was Itachi's calm, impassive reply.

"Your duty?" Sasuke repeated sceptically.

"My duty to you as an older brother, which I have thus far neglected." Sasuke had a hard time swallowing this - after all, if Itachi had wanted to "fulfill his duty as a big brother", why had he murdered the family? But Itachi seemed to mean the words. He struggled for a comeback, but found none, and was therefore grateful when their discussion, or lack thereof, was interrupted by a certain blond who had only left their presence minutes ago.

"So, the sun back in the sky?" Naruto asked jovially.

"I don't believe it ever left," Sasuke retorted coldly. Naruto shrugged. If Sasuke refused to recognize a perfectly good poetic metaphor, that was _his _loss.

"It's probably too much to hope for that you'd let Itachi stay with -" Naruto began, and Sasuke cut across him ruthlessly. "There is _no _way he's staying with me," Sasuke declared flatly, folding his arms over his chest. _I refrained from killing him - isn't that enough? They can't seriously expect me to extend _hospitality _to someone who murdered my precious people? _

Naruto sighed. "I thought not," he said, and mumbled something about stubborn, grudge-holding Uchihas. "Well then, Itachi, I s'pose you're coming home with me."

Itachi was startled, but he didn't show it. Instead he found himself dwelling on sharing a household with this hyperactive screwball. He had a fleeting glimpse of Naruto trying to force third and fourth helpings of ramen on him, and couldn't conceal a wince at the thought. _This will certainly be a memorable experience for me, _he reflected. _Deidara would have a field day with it._

* * *

I know "Chidori-ed" isn't a word, but I needed a verb for Chidori, so I created one. I hope you guys liked the chapter. I know, it was supercharged with emotion (Sasuke's, mostly), but I figured it had to be to make Sasuke's retreat from killing his brother believable. I'm still not sure I succeeded with that - after all we've seen of Sasuke's hatred, it's hard to believe that _anything, _even death, could keep Sasuke from his revenge. I'm reasonably proud of this chapter, and am looking forward to describing Itachi's attempt to live a peaceful life with Naruto in the household. It'll definitely be fun! Well, anyway, thanks for reading and please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please REVIEW.

P.S. In case anyone cares (which they don't), that was 14 pleases. :P


	4. Chapter 4:Enigmas and Kitchen Endeavours

I'm really on a roll with this story (oops, shouldn't have said that, I just jinxed myself, probably), and this chapter just flowed out of me with very little prompting. The title is a bit... intriguing, I know, but it has its reasons behind it, as always. I apologize in advance for the shortness of this chapter - I just thought I'd found a good place to end it, so I stopped. Hopefully you won't have to wait too long for the next update, and enjoy this one to the fullest!

* * *

Chapter 4 - Enigmas and Kitchen Endeavours  


Itachi's first reaction upon spying Naruto's house was to blink, long and hard. His already sensitive eyes had just received their biggest shock since Deidara had purposely gotten himself struck by lightning on a dare. Then there had been a blinding flash and a smell of smoke, from Deidara's charred robes. But this definitely took the runner-up prize.

"So whaddaya think?" Naruto asked proudly.

"It's very..._orange," _Itachi said truthfully. And it undeniably was. Naruto, in a burst of artistic inspiration, no doubt, had painted his small, cramped home a painfully bright orange colour, roof, walls, door and all. Naruto had even accidentally painted one of the window panes orange. He had discovered his mistake later and had done some intense scrubbing, but as the paint had already dried only some came off, and the glass still held a definite orange tint.

"That's what everyone says," Naruto said, frowning slightly. Then he shrugged and threw open the door, leading Itachi inside.

"You don't lock your door?" Itachi questioned, noting that Naruto used no key.

"No; why bother? I don't have enough stuff for any burglars to be interested, and I figure that if anyone wants to get in for other reasons, they're probably the type of person that a lock won't stop - such as assassins, or Akatsuki members," Naruto said, looking pointedly at Itachi during this last part. Itachi did not feel pity for Naruto upon hearing that assassins had made entrances into his home in the past. Itachi's opinion was that if you were a ninja, you should _expect _attempts on your life. But then again he was a wanted man - perhaps custom was different for him.

The indoors part of Naruto's humble home was more bearable than the outside. The walls were a pleasant, non-flamboyant white, and although things were somewhat cramped, it could be called cozy (if you were the kind of person who even used such an expression, which Itachi wasn't). The two - friends being too strong a word - acquaintances seated themselves at Naruto's kitchen table. Besides the fact that its wooden surface was flecked with filth, it looked decent; no table legs missing or anything. Itachi rested his elbows on the top, then withdrew them hastily when the table creaked dangerously.

"So, what d'you wanna eat?" Naruto asked. "I'm no chef, but ramen doesn't really require much cooking..."

Itachi was determined to do everything in his power to forestall thoughts like _that. _It wasn't that ramen was a bad food, but he'd heard enough tales of Naruto's legendary ramen-eating capacities to stay away from that particular dish with the irrepressible blond in the vicinity.

"If you don't mind," he put in primly, "I could - what is the expression - _rustle something up._"

"You sure about that?" Naruto said doubtfully. "I thought criminals went in more for the murdering, pillaging type of thing than the cuisine aspect of life."

"In Akatsuki, we took turns cooking dinner," Itachi said. Only he and the other organization members would ever know the many tales of bad experiments, foul tastes, indigestion and even (on one occasion, Tobi's turn) forest fires that lay behind that simple sentence.

"Well, if you really want to cook, then knock yourself out," Naruto said, doubtful of the kitchen abilities of an S-ranked criminal, but willing to give everything at least one try.

"Thank you, Uzumaki-san," Itachi said coldly, and set to work. Itachi soon discovered that Naruto had very few items in the fridge or cupboards that could be used to put together any sort of dish known to mankind, but ninjas had to be able to improvise, and Itachi did a rather exceptional job in this area. He compiled what could either be called a casserole or a nameless heap of funny-coloured goop, but whatever it was, it was certainly creative. Naruto could only hover helplessly in the background, gaping at Itachi's fearless endeavours into places no man has gone before. And when he actually _tasted _the stuff... well, Itachi was just sorry he didn't have a camera on hand; the expression on Naruto's face was priceless, absolutely priceless.

"Holy cow, this stuff's _good!" _Naruto exclaimed, the picture of wonder and delight as he began to shovel it in at a speed that rivalled the swiftness with which he downed his bowls of ramen. Itachi, who was about as tickled (and hungry) as a person like him could be, ate with a will as well. By the end of the meal he was almost overwhelmed. He had never received so many compliments in one sitting before, especially not in relation to his cooking - Naruto showered him with praise. Itachi thought of the saying, 'The way to a man's heart is through his stomach', and had to fight back a smile with surprising vigour.

"Well, bedtime, I guess," Naruto said finally, leaning away from his plate to stretch and yawn. He rose and deposited the dirty dishes in the kitchen sink. "I'll wash them tomorrow morning," he told Itachi. _Procrastinator, _Itachi thought, but he made no outward comment, not being the outspoken type.

"So where do you wanna sleep? You can have the bed, I don't care," Naruto offered generously.

Itachi felt this would be talking a bit too much advantage of someone whom he had once tried to kidnap for most unfriendly purposes, so he demurred politely. "You are most gracious, Uzumaki-san, but the floor will be fine."

Naruto gave him a most displeased look through narrowed cerulean eyes. "Let's get two things straight," he growled. "First, if you think I'm such a mean host as to make you sleep on a hard floor all night, you can banish that thought this minute. The couch is the lowest you'll ever sink here." He took a breath, then continued the rant. "Secondly, the next time you call me Uzumaki-san, or even Naruto-san, consider yourself officially booted from this household." It was obvious that argument would be fruitless from Naruto's erect, firm posture and unwavering glare.

"I'll take the couch...Naruto," Itachi said. Nothing else needed saying - they both knew Naruto had gotten his point across.

A few minutes later, Itachi found himself lying on Naruto's burgundy couch, his arms folded underneath his head. The sofa, despite having a few busted seams, sunk in very comfortably under his weight. His gaze bore into Naruto's back as the latter bounced energetically up the stairs, leaving a cheerful "Good night!" in his wake.

It was at times like these, Itachi reflected, that you really questioned whether you understood anything of life at all. Itachi, having had the experience of many different sides of life, thought he had sort of figured out its pattern. But he saw now how ridiculously foolish it was to assume such a thing.

Take these past few days, for example. Itachi had fully expected Naruto to attack him upon seeing him in the forest, and yet he had ended up giving him his wholehearted help. He had expected Naruto to stand by and watch Sasuke murder him, either that or hand him over to the authorities for painful interrogation and possible execution. He had every reason to do both of these things, after all. But instead, Naruto had not only argued with Sasuke on his behalf and succeeded in winning over his younger brother, but had thrown himself in front of a deadly blow meant for Itachi. As if that wasn't sufficient, he had then taken Itachi into his home like a best pal, and trusted him enough to let him cook dinner and sleep on the couch. Naruto was nothing short of an enigma.

_What it all comes down to, _Itachi decided, trying to shake off a wonder-induced stupor, _is that if everyone were like Uzumaki Naruto, the world would be a very strange place indeed._

And with that thought in mind, Itachi stood up and went into the kitchen to do those dirty dishes, out of the simple goodness of the heart he never knew he had.

* * *

Well, that's Chapter 4 up, and I certainly hope it was an enjoyable read. Once again I apologize profusely for the shortness, hopefully I can make it up to you in some later chapter. It was a lot of fun writing this - a little_ too_ much fun, perhaps; I think I went a little overboard on the humour :P but I felt that it was about time for some lightening up in this fic. Thanks so much to all of you great people out there who reviewed - reading those reviews always makes me so happy :) Please, please keep it up! Thanks again! 


	5. Chapter 5: Drawing A New Line

Chapter 5 is up, don't think I've kept you waiting too _too _long. This chapter was really forced, but it felt right coming out, somehow. I had a lot I wanted to get across, and I'm not sure I did it justice. But that's for you, the esteemed readers, to decide, of course. :)

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Chapter 5 - Drawing A New Line 

Itachi woke very calmly. He wasn't the sort of person who wakes with a start, jumps up and looks around wildly. He was much too dignified for that. No, he opened his eyes slowly, scrutinized the ceiling for a few seconds, then sat up steadily. He stood and reached for his cloak, which was actually not a new cloak, but his Akatsuki cloak turned inside out so that the red clouds weren't visible. Then he stopped. Why wear it? Then again, there wasn't really any reason not to wear it, but still... he left it draped over the edge of the couch.

He raised his hand to pat down his sleek black hair, and his fingers met the cold, hard resistance of his forehead protector. Without even consciously deciding to do so, he tore it from his head in one fluid motion. He turned it over and ran his hand over its smooth metal surface, fingers pressing into the spiral-shaped design and the deeply carved line that cut through it. _That line, _he thought, staring at it. _The day I crossed the line, I drew that line. _What an odd thought - was it metaphorical or literal? Itachi couldn't tell. He didn't know why he'd thought it. But that was usually the way with thoughts, wasn't it?

He sighed and shut his eyes tightly only to reopen them a second later, as if hoping that the world would make more sense afterwards. If so, his hopes were dashed. This was one of those days when he was just going to confuse himself over and over again by asking questions without answers and finding answers without questions. Itachi opened his hand and the forehead protector fell, landing soundlessly on the soft sofa. He wasn't going to wear it ever again. There was just no point - true, he wasn't a Konoha shinobi anymore, really, but nor was he of Akatsuki. Here he would simply be a civilian.

Itachi exited Naruto's house silently. He didn't know what time it was, but he suspected it was indecently early - the dawn looked fresh. The sky was a beautiful sight, soft shades of pink, yellow and orange blending together like delicious sherbet. Itachi's eyes were void of emotion as he looked upon it, however. He had lost the ability to appreciate beauty a long time ago. _Ugliness always underlies beauty, no matter how pure it seems. "Beauty" in itself does not exist in a world like this one. _

He walked purposefully down the street, feeling unusually bare. Without his cloak, he was garbed in only a dull purple mesh shirt and tight-fitting black pants that reached to just below his knees. He felt naked. Naked, but surprisingly light on his feet, and the morning breeze swirled around his skin instead of around his cloak, a pleasant change. His hair also seemed to fit more snugly to his head, if that was an accurate way of describing the absence of the forehead protector. He wondered if it was still obvious that he was, or had once been, a ninja. He still had a kunai holster, but other than that, perhaps he looked fairly normal.

He stopped, just outside Konoha's graveyard. What had brought him here? He didn't know, but he stepped into it, surprised that it took some courage to do so. He walked slowly, respectfully, through the aisles of graves, taking in the names of so many deceased and dismissing them from his mind immediately afterward. Suddenly a name popped into his brain that he found more difficult to forget. _Uchiha. _His feet refused to move another step, so, humouring them, Itachi turned his body to face the grave head-on. _Uchiha Fugaku. _Or, as Itachi had known him better as when he was alive, _Father. _It wasn't a very nice grave, he noticed. Some kind of plain, dull gray stone, and no heart-warming message under his name. His gaze swivelled to the grave beside Fugaku's. This one read _Uchiha Mikoto. _"Mother?" Itachi tried the word, so long unused, and was slightly embarrassed to find that he'd spoken out loud, like a lost child looking for his mom. Itachi snorted mentally at that. He wasn't looking for her - he should know that, seeing as he was the one who ensured she would never be found by anyone again.

Itachi remained there, in front of his family's resting place, for a while. His sensible mind was telling him he'd wasted enough time here already, he should go, but another part of him stubbornly stood in the way of his departure. Maybe it was that mysterious "soul" contraption again. For some reason, it just didn't feel right to leave this way, like he was disregarding some highly important etiquette. Finally, Itachi kneeled in the dirt, and leaned over to touch his forehead to the ground, in a gesture of respect, or something of that sort. A bow of acknowledgement. Whatever.

Itachi turned and strode away without so much as a backward glance.

* * *

Not too far away, another figure sat up in bed, less stoically than Uchiha Itachi. He was sweating, and a close observer would have noticed that his shoulders shook. He threw off the covers and swung himself onto the floor.

Uchiha Sasuke really did look a lot like his older brother, although anyone who told him that would be lucky to escape with their life, considering Sasuke's feelings towards his sibling. Sasuke was shorter, but not by much anymore, and probably handsomer. His face was also less... void. In fact, he looked quite emotional at the moment, as he wiped moisture from his brow while glaring at himself in the mirror.

_I can't stop thinking about _him _now, _Sasuke thought angrily. _I thought that it couldn't get worse than having the memories of him haunt me. But now that he's here in the flesh, I realize I was mistaken. _It wasn't the first time he'd dreamed of Itachi, of course. Well, dreamed wasn't really correct - _nightmared _was more accurate. Too bad that wasn't a word. Dreaming of shoving Chidori through Itachi's chest was disturbing, certainly, a dream filled with hate and pain and all kinds of twisted emotions that made for a restless night. But this latest dream was more unnerving than that.

Unlike all the other times, Sasuke hadn't had a flashback of Itachi's killing, or an image of himself murdering his brother. Instead, he and Itachi had been standing across from each other. All their surroundings were pitch black, but Itachi was clear as day to him. They just stood there, unmoving, unspeaking. Itachi's face was as empty of emotion as ever. Finally, Sasuke tried to take a step toward his brother, to attack him, to ask him what was going on, or just to _do _something. But he found that he couldn't. He could take a step, and took several, but he didn't get any closer to Itachi. The distance between them remained the same.

Then Itachi, his expression not changing at all, said calmly, "You can't walk across nothing, Sasuke."

Sasuke had been about to say something in return, but then he had woken, and he could no longer remember what he wanted to say. What a cryptic message - _you can't walk across nothing._ Well, that was a pretty obvious statement of fact, but one that not many people would mention in casual conversation. Sasuke felt irritated with his brother for invading his slumber to say something so meaningless.

Sasuke sighed audibly. What was he going to do about Itachi, anyway? He couldn't deny that the idea of killing him still held no little amount of appeal, but after what Naruto said... well, his enthusiasm had been slightly dampened. _This is so stupid, _he thought, scolding himself. _You almost killed Naruto before to get your revenge! So why are some dumb words he said to you stopping you now?? _He didn't know the answer, he just knew that he wasn't going to let his friends down again. But the fact that he no longer intended to kill Itachi, for the moment at least, didn't really make him hate his brother any less. He'd killed everyone Sasuke had ever loved... _**well, not quite,**_his brain told him. _**You loved **_**him, **_**remember? He was your big brother, your hero. Still is. **_

_He may be my big brother, but he is definitely NOT my hero! _Sasuke replied to his own thoughts with much vehemence. _And I stopped loving him the day he stopped loving me. The day he stopped loving all of us._

_**How can you be so sure he stopped loving you? **_that annoying, irrepressible voice in his head shoved its way in again. _**He returned to Konoha, risking capture or death, without Akatsuki behind him, to meet with you. Is that proof or what? **_the voice sounded triumphant. _**I rest my case. **_

_Proof of what? _Sasuke snapped. _What are you trying to say? That Itachi loves me? Then why did he kill the whole family? _

_**Not the whole family, **_the voice corrected. _**He left you alive. **_

Sasuke thought he might be going crazy. Hearing voices in his head? This was way over the top - he wanted it to stop. And it was _going _to stop. _Just shut up and go away! _he shouted at the voice. _I can't deal with this, okay? Leave me alone! _The voice receded, if sulkily. _**This debate is **_**not **_**over. **_

Sasuke combed his hair much more viciously than normal that morning, every stubborn tug of the brush taking out some of his fury. This was all Itachi's fault - all these doubts, these dreams, these thoughts. It was all stupid, murdering Itachi's fault.

Sasuke left his house still chafing, but his mood sobered when he reached the graveyard, a familiar sight. He visited it every morning, before training, to pay his respects, and also as a kind of reminder of his purpose as an avenger. He didn't know whether that second reason still held true, though. If he wasn't going to kill Itachi, he wasn't technically getting revenge. _But I haven't yet decided whether I'm going to kill him or not, _Sasuke reasoned. The knowledge that he still had at least one choice to make comforted him somehow.

When he stopped in front of his parents' graves, he was surprised to find that there were footprints there. He looked back to see that the footprints had started a ways back at the entrance, and led up to this location. The footprint-maker had paused here for a good bit of time, as the prints were considerably deeper. Sasuke chose to ignore this for a minute, as he examined the burial place of his loved ones for the zillionth time. _Uchiha Fugaku...Uchiha Mitoko... _those names were nothing, nothing at all compared to the people they represented.

"What would you have wanted me to do, Father, Mother?" Sasuke asked very quietly. "Kill Itachi, or not?" He knew his mother's response to that, anyway. She had always said she would love her sons no matter what they did, and Sasuke knew she meant it with every fibre of her being. Despite the fact that Itachi had killed her, she still loved him, and she wouldn't want him to die. But Sasuke didn't know how long _he _could live with Itachi alive too. He could never forget the pain Itachi had made him go through. It was beyond forgiveness.

Suddenly, Sasuke felt a presence, very close by. He whirled. And there, only about a metre away, stood Itachi, the person who had been occupying his mind without cease since yesterday evening. He always appeared so unexpectedly. Sasuke just stared at him, surprised to find that Itachi was very bony. The mesh shirt he wore clung to his skin, and his thinness stood out. Itachi looked unhealthily skinny, his ribs visible through the shirt. If you took in the wrinkles on his face and circles under his eyes, he had a tired, almost ill look. Perhaps he didn't treat himself so much better than he treated others.

But there was something else about him, something far more astonishing... what was that on his face, that transparent, blurry spot?

At the same time that Sasuke noticed it, Itachi felt something warm and wet trickle down his right cheek. He looked up; was it raining? But one brief glance was sufficient to tell him that no, it wasn't.

Itachi brushed the trickle off his cheek and looked down at his hand, where the moisture glistened on his pale skin. Itachi could only stare until it evaporated. _It's nothing, _his sensible mind told him. But his soul, which Itachi was beginning to think much more reliable than his mind, knew it wasn't nothing. That one tear was _everything. _Everything Itachi had blocked for so long, emerging at last.

Itachi looked up at Sasuke, meeting his stunned gaze. He felt his lips twist upward at the corners.

Strange, how crying made him feel like smiling.

* * *

There you go - hope you liked the chapter. The most difficult thing about writing scenes with Itachi is that you have to get his feelings across to the reader without actually _describing _them. Itachi's emotions are always between the lines - you can't just say outright, "Itachi was sad". His soul isn't that clear-cut - he's just getting to know it, really, and everything is all mixed up and unclear. I don't know if you get what I'm trying to say, but I'm losing it, so I'll give up this pathetic attempt at an explanation :P. Well, I hope I managed to convey at least some feelings in this chapter. Every review adds a drop to my cup of happiness, so keep reviewing and it'll be full in no time! Thanks! 


	6. Chapter 6: Past, Present, Future

Here's Chapter 6. Is it just me, or does this chapter really, _really _suck? Please review and tell me.

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Chapter 6 - Past, Present, Future

Sasuke could only stand there gawking, jaw sagging uncharacteristically, at the unbelievable spectacle unfolding in front of him. His mind's wheels spun frantically as they went over every possible angle on this situation except for the one that _couldn't _be possible - that _Uchiha Itachi _was _crying. _

He narrowed it down to three options - one, this was an impostor, not the real Itachi. But that didn't make sense - why would someone transform into Itachi? Being a wanted, S-ranked criminal in a big city full of capable ninja wasn't exactly an enviable position. Two, this was some kind of genjutsu, an illusion. But why would someone cast a genjutsu on him just so he could watch his older brother cry? And three, Itachi was faking for some dishonest purpose. This seemed the most likely, but Sasuke found it difficult to believe that someone as feeling-less as Itachi could even _fake _tears. Then again, with training, anything was possible.

Still, despite the weirdness of the situation, something about it struck Sasuke as genuine. And though he dismissed the thoughts of his heart as trash whenever he could, he trusted his instincts. So, he asked, mistrust evident in his voice, "Why are you crying?"

Itachi's eyes glistened wetly, but other than that they were the same calculating black eyes as ever. Their gaze seemed to sharpen on Sasuke as his question made its way to Itachi's brain. "I'm crying... I'm crying for the past. The present, too."

"You forgot the future," Sasuke commented dryly. But Itachi shook his head slowly and said stoically, "The future should never be cried for." _But, _he thought to himself, _just because I said that, doesn't mean I'm _not _crying for the future._

Sasuke wasn't finished his interrogation. "Whose past? Whose present?"

"Ours. Theirs." Itachi nodded towards the Uchiha graves. The tears hadn't stopped running down his impassive face, but his voice was admirably steady.

Sasuke felt the thrill of anger, temporarily pushed back by his shock at Itachi's tears, return, jolting him with wild electricity. He said, his voice scathing but at the same icy, "It's your fault they're in the past. Your fault they have no present! Your fault my past was torn to shreds. Your fault my present is falling apart. It's _all _your fault."

Itachi said nothing. That was ancient history.

The two brothers watched each other. Sasuke trembled visibly. He closed his hand, then unclenched it rapidly and held it stiffly, all the fingers splayed apart. He was afraid that if he let himself make a fist, a Chidori would manifest itself. _What's so bad about that? _a voice in his head asked, but he ignored it with all his might, which only resulted in him thinking about it more than ever.

Itachi was thinking too - deliberating. He'd always known it would come down to this eventually. It had always been down to this, really. The hatred, the pain, the blame. His fault - that's what it would always be. He made the choice for it to be his fault. And now he had to explain his choice. _That's a problem Sasuke and I always had, _he thought, closing his eyes. _I never explained anything to him, and after a while he stopped asking for explanations. _He wondered vaguely if things would have turned out differently if, just once, he'd answered one of Sasuke's questions. Did that matter now? Yes, it did. He didn't know why, but it did.

"Wait for me, little brother," Itachi said. "Wait, and think about everything that happened. Then I'll show you how it all fits together." Then he turned and disappeared.

* * *

Itachi materialized on the simple, unadorned porch in front of the Uchiha compound. He felt like an intruder, walking on someone else's porch like it was his own. It had once been his, admittedly. But it felt so - foreign - now, unfamiliar territory. Would Sasuke appreciate him being here? He doubted it. _But why not come here? _he thought. _Why not here, where it all began...so very long ago..._

In separate locations, both Uchihas made themselves comfortable and prepared for major flashbacks.

* * *

Sasuke thought back to one of his earliest memories.

_He was very young, and very small, but he didn't feel small at the time. He sat in the backyard, watching attentively as his older brother practiced his aim in front of him. It was the same thing over and over again - his brother drawing a kunai, raising it, releasing it, and then the dull thud of the blade sinking into the wooden target - but he wasn't bored. It was interesting. All of it was interesting - the way his brother's fingers closed carefully over the kunai handle, the way his body tensed almost imperceptibly before launching the blade and relaxed immediately after, the way sawdust sprayed from the wood as another dent was made. He memorized every little thing about the scene, knowing that he would do all this later, just as perfectly as his brother did._

_Then his brother turned toward him, smiling slightly. He walked over and sat beside Sasuke. He held up a kunai, and the metallic blade gleamed dully in the sunlight. He took Sasuke's tiny hand in his own larger one and lifted it to the level of the kunai. He let Sasuke run his small, smooth index finger across the hard, cold surface of the blade, careful not to slice his skin on the sharp edges. The chill of the blade, its smoothness, marred by a few imperfections in the metal here and there, sent a thrill through Sasuke and his finger rested lightly on the kunai as if glued there. _

* * *

_Sasuke was older now, and he wanted to feel the texture of that kunai again, and to experience everything he'd experienced while watching his brother, except firsthand, everything caused by him - the movements, the thud, the spraying sawdust. He approached his brother, not for the first time. "Aniki, will you train me?" he asked, screwing up his face into an expression of pleading. "I want to throw like you do!" I want to do everything like you, Aniki, he thought. But he didn't say that out loud. His older brother just flicked him gently on the forehead as he always did, and said softly, "Another time, Sasuke." And Sasuke was left alone in the room, rubbing his forehead._

* * *

_More years had passed, and Sasuke was more convinced than ever that his brother was amazing. Everyone talked about him - he was a prodigy, the best of the best. His father trained him constantly, trusted him with important tasks and gave him responsibilities Sasuke longed for. People looked at Sasuke, smiled and said, "You're _his _brother, aren't you?" At first Sasuke was proud to have such an elite brother. But then he wondered, why don't they acknowledge me for me? Why doesn't Father train me too? Why does he have to be so amazing? _

_Yes, his brother was amazing. But there were other things about him...things even Father couldn't ignore forever. Maybe his brother was as tired of being perfect as Sasuke was of hearing about his perfection. Every day, Sasuke felt more of a chill from his older brother. Those black eyes, although they had never been easy to read, were impossible now. The face had never been open, but now it was shut and locked. Father stopped talking about him, stopped talking to him. They passed each other in the hallway like strangers. And they felt more and more like strangers every moment. Is summer over, Father? Sasuke wanted to ask. It was a stupid question, but it was the only one that made sense to him._

* * *

_Then they came to his house. The men with the ugly faces, made uglier by their scowls. Sasuke had seen them before, with Father. They asked his brother questions - a meeting he hadn't been to, apparently. Sasuke watched from the doorway, hiding and not sure why. The air felt tight. Tight and cold. Then..."the suicide by drowning of Uchiha Shisui." Those words hit Sasuke like a blow, and he withdrew a little further into the doorway. Itachi replied that this was sad to hear, and that he hadn't been with Shisui recently. But his voice was detached, not really interested in the news. Aniki, why aren't you sad? Sasuke thought. I thought Shisui was like a brother to you...Then they read the suicide note. 'I am tired of the duties...there is no future for the Uchiha clan...and for me...I cannot walk the "path" any further...' Why, oh why did those words make Sasuke think of his own brother? _

_Sasuke was truly frightened now. His brother was calm, but Sasuke could feel more underneath. He didn't want to know what was there, but it was coming out. His brother was challenging those ugly men. And suddenly, those fathomless black eyes were no longer black, but red... the red Sasuke knew was Sharingan, but it was different. The black circle that spun inside the red - he had never seen it before. And then, all of a sudden, the men were on the ground, writhing. Just from looking at his eyes??! Sasuke thought, horrified. But the worst was yet to come. Out of his brother's mouth came words Sasuke had never imagined from him - degrading the clan, speaking of limits and capacities... Sasuke didn't understand this version of his Aniki, and didn't like it. He was shaking now. Then Father came, but that didn't make it better. Those awful eyes were still there - the words still hung in the air, filling the silence... Why, Aniki, why have you changed so much? Sasuke thought desperately. _

_The men his brother had beaten before were now on their feet. They were ordering an arrest - they wanted to arrest his Aniki! "Stop, brother!" Sasuke shouted. He was still terrified, but it felt so good to make his voice heard, however small, unimportant a voice it was. How important it was to his brother, that was what mattered. His brother fell to his knees and touched his forehead to the ground. He apologized. Father made his excuses. But it didn't feel right. Nothing had felt right for a while now. As his brother passed him on his way back inside, and his eyes, returning to their cold black now, glanced down, Sasuke thought for a moment that his brother would stop and explain everything, calm his fears. But then his brother was past and walking down the hall, and the moment was over. Sasuke could only watch, as he had done so many times before. _

_Summer was over, Sasuke knew that for sure. It was winter now. And there had been precious little autumn and spring in between._

* * *

Sasuke shut down his memories right there. The next thing his brain would have taken him to was the scene he'd seen too many times, in nightmares, in his brother's eyes, in his mind's eye, constantly. The bodies everywhere, draped over each other... bodies Sasuke _knew_... the blood, spattered all over...Itachi, in the middle, waiting for him, waiting to torture him, sheathing his bloody katana. Blood -death - fear - red - white - black - terror - death - blood - blood - blood. _Blood! _The word had repeated itself in Sasuke's head so many times by now that it had almost ceased to have meaning for him. Almost. There was still far too much meaning left.

BLOOD.

Sasuke leaped up, unable to bear the pain in stillness anymore, and ran. He sprinted, panicked, all the way to the Uchiha compound. He almost expected to come upon an empty-feeling, dark house, and find the blood, the death all over again. He ran so fast he was almost blinded, and he caught his foot on the bottom step of the front porch and sprawled over the steps, breathing hard, heart racing, ears pounding, blood rushing.

He raised his head, a strand of black hair falling into his eye. Uchiha Itachi stood above him, gazing down. "Sasuke."

"W...what??" Sasuke asked, gasping, trying to catch his breath. He pushed himself up painfully.

"I'm going to explain." Itachi's voice was as toneless as usual, but something about him felt more focused, more intense. "Explain what?" Sasuke wasn't ready to stand up yet, but at least he could talk normally - sort of.

Itachi reached down, grasped Sasuke's hand, and pulled him to his feet in a smooth gesture with a surprising amount of muscle behind it. "Everything."

* * *

Did I completely screw up the flashbacks? It felt like it... in fact, everything in this chapter felt screwed-up. Sort of... choppy, sloppy, dumb, meaningless. And I have a bit of a problem now...heh-heh...I really have no idea what Itachi's explanation will consist of. Better get those mind's wheels turning, and fast! The next chapter may take a while, so please be patient. Thank you so much for the reviews - they make all the work worth it! Yeah...I'd like to end with some inspiring line or something...but nothing's coming to me, it's really late and I'm pretty much brain-dead, so that's all. :P 


	7. Chapter 7: The Point of No Return

Wow, this chapter's long. It is now revised, so my apologies go out to those who read it before, when it had quite a few grammatical mistakes. This chapter took a lot out of me, so please enjoy my hard work!

* * *

Chapter 7 - The Point of No Return

Sasuke was glad Itachi didn't make any move to enter the actual house, because that would have been an unendurable violation of everything Sasuke held close to heart. He suddenly felt very possessive of his precious things and people, and he didn't want this man anywhere near them. He moved purposefully to position himself between Itachi and the door of the house. If Itachi noticed the significance of the gesture, he made no mention of it, simply saying, "Perhaps you would be more comfortable sitting down."

"I would prefer to stand," Sasuke replied. If spoken words were visible, his would have emerged as solid ice. Itachi didn't push him, but he did sit down himself. His body draped itself gracefully over the wooden boards as he arranged his legs into a cross-legged pose.

_Ha! He must feel like an idiot, sitting down there like a kindergartner, _Sasuke thought, not bothering to suppress a smirk of superiority. That was before he realized that he felt just as stupid, standing there awkwardly trying not to look at his brother's face, because that just made him irrationally angry. Finally he plopped himself down on the porch with an ungracious snort, keeping a healthy distance between the two of them. Itachi straightened slightly, now seriously preparing to tell his tale. He'd been waiting for Sasuke to sit, obviously.

_Crap, how did he know I even _was _going to sit down? _Sasuke thought, annoyed. _It's like he knows everything. _His eyes roved over Itachi's calm, collected visage and he suddenly felt uncertain. Does _he know everything? _he wondered uneasily. His unbearable "inner voice" popped up again, answering his question.

_**No, he's just a smart guy. And he knows you. And jeez, can't you come to one sensible conclusion without me there to give you a nudge? **_

_He _thinks _he knows me, _Sasuke snapped. _And I was doing fine before you butted in! Give me a break!_

_**Whatever, you angsty jerkface. **_

"Confronting personal demons, Sasuke?" Itachi's quiet, robotic question brought Sasuke back to his natural surroundings.

_Yes, and you're the worst of them, _Sasuke thought, but he kept that to himself and said coldly, "I thought you were going to explain?"

"That was my original intention, yes," Itachi admitted. "What, specifically, would you like to know?"

"Like you said, everything."

Itachi nodded. "I will start at the beginning, then. If I can find it."

* * *

_Itachi's Story_

A thirteen-year-old Uchiha Itachi walked slowly home, clutching a scroll which contained the details for the mission he would undertake the following morning. A mission which he had not asked for, but which, as usual, had been doled out to him just five minutes after he had completed the previous one. Ever since he'd joined ANBU and become captain, the work had become never-ending. He barely had time to eat proper meals now. He was only a teenager, for Pete's sake! _Where in the law, _he thought, clenching the fist that held his mission scroll, _is it written that an exceptional ninja must spend his every moment accomplishing something, without a break to relax and enjoy the ride? _The answer wasn't difficult to see. Exceptional ninjas didn't need to work constantly. Only exceptional Uchiha ninjas did.

Itachi used to think that being an incredibly gifted young shinobi was a good thing. That was until he realized that he had no control over his talent. The Uchiha clan dictated his every move, had already mapped out his entire career for him, probably. They looked at his abilities as simply a way to advance the clan and not as something personal belonging to him. They expected him to complete each mission perfectly, and he did. They expected him to serve the clan willingly and obediently, and he did. They expected him to be the best, and he was. But he was tired of meeting expectations. He wondered if any other thirteen-year-old had to carry this much pressure on his shoulders. Some days, like today, it felt like a physical weight, so heavy he could barely stand.

His legs had led him right up to his front door, and he opened it and went in. A joyful shout of "Aniki!" was the first thing he heard, and next moment there was a black-haired bundle hugging his legs. Itachi smiled slightly and reached down to ruffle his little brother's hair. "Hello, Sasuke."

When he had detached himself from Sasuke, he entered the living room. His father, stern-faced, sat at the table, flipping through a thick volume. He looked up briefly when his son came in and asked, "Did you complete your mission successfully, Itachi?"

Itachi stared at his father and almost poured out all of his feelings right then and there. But then he bit the words back. Approaching his _father _with his complaints? His father was one of the people who ran the clan, and the source of most of the pressure on Itachi. Just his question proved that the only thing in his eldest son that he cared about was his skill. Had he asked, "Did you have fun?" or even "How are you today?" No, all he said was, "_Did you complete your mission successfully?" _like that was all that mattered. Because to him, it was.

"Yes, Father," Itachi said dully. He looked down at the scroll he'd been carrying, and saw that it had been crumpled into a tiny ball.

--

Itachi stopped for a breather between the trees, bending low with his hands on his knees and panting harshly. He had been travelling very fast to catch up with his ANBU squad after he had separated from them for the purpose of the mission. Too fast - his body was punishing him now.

He straightened up moments later, and cursed inwardly. His weariness had prevented him from noticing before, but now he sensed the presence of strangers surrounding him. From the amount of Chakra he could feel, he guessed that there were three. He activated his Sharingan and took a defensive stance.

Unusually, they all stepped out of the bushes at once, not aiming for a surprise attack. There were three, proving Itachi's estimate correct. One was a boy with red hair who looked younger than Itachi, one had pale blue skin and shark-like features, and the last had dark, heavy-lidded eyes and blue hair decorated with a flower accessory. The one thing they all seemed to have in common was their garb - they all wore long, loose black cloaks with red cloud patterns stitched on. Itachi registered every detail of their appearance for future reference. _Near _future reference, if they wanted to fight him.

"Are you Uchiha Itachi?" the blue-haired female asked. Itachi considered denying it, but it was obvious from his eyes that he was an Uchiha, and if she was asking, that probably meant she was searching for him and already knew what he looked like.

"Yes," he said warily.

The female's expression didn't change, but he thought he spotted a glimmer of satisfaction in her eyes. She turned to her companions, and they hastened to introduce themselves.

"I am Sasori," the red-haired boy said. Itachi scrutinized him for a long time - he seemed young, but there was something _off _about his youth. The shark-like one sounded somewhat miffed as he said, "I'm Kisame," probably because of Itachi's lack of attention towards him.

The female didn't follow suit, however. She seemed content to leave herself unnamed. Itachi was sweating and felt afraid, but it was only now that he realized that it wasn't because he felt any killer intent from the threesome - instead he sensed a rabid interest radiating from them, directed towards him. It made him very uncomfortable. What did they want him for?

"At what age did you graduate from the ninja academy of Konoha?" the shark guy, Kisame, asked suddenly.

"Seven." Itachi didn't lie; he got the feeling that if he did, they would know.

"Achieve the rank of Chuunin?"

"Nine."

"It seems to be him all right," Kisame said gruffly. This seemed to be some kind of cue for Sasori, because he immediately launched into a brief explanation.

"We are from Akatsuki. Our leader has had his eye on you for some time now, and we were sent to inspect you more closely."

"Inspect me for what?" Itachi asked coldly. He knew he was risking provoking an attack by trying to hurry them, but he couldn't delay long anyway if he wanted to catch up to his squad.

"More precisely," Sasori verified, "we wish to _recruit _you." He looked at Itachi expectantly, as if waiting for some sort of momentous reaction.

"I'm sorry, but I have little to no idea of what you're talking about, and at the moment I am in something of a hurry," Itachi said. "If you have anything further to say, please make it as short as possible." This was being rude, but he was liking the situation less and less with every passing moment and just wanted to get out of it. Besides, these three odd characters didn't seem to mean him any harm; quite the opposite, in fact.

"Why does Leader-sama always pick the bold ones?" Kisame wondered under his breath.

"Shut up, Kisame," the blue-haired woman commanded, and she seemed to hold some authority, because he obliged. "We won't hold him back." She turned to Itachi. "We apologize for using your precious time, and we would like to meet with you again. Is a week from now, same time, same place, convenient for you?"

Itachi still wasn't sure exactly what they wanted to do with him, or if he wanted anything to do with _them, _but their message, however cryptic and vague, excited him a little. Was this his chance to finally break free of the Uchiha clan's restraints?

"Perhaps," he said carefully, unwilling to make any promises, "but, again, why have you singled me out like this?"

He would remember Sasori's next words until his dying day, for they struck a chord in him that was seldom ever touched. "Because you, Uchiha Itachi, are a special case."

The people from "Akatsuki", as they said, left him then, and he found himself alone with nature once again.

Itachi rejoined his ANBU squad fairly quickly following the incident, and had soon returned to Konoha, but he told no one of his encounter with Akatsuki. He could not deny that meeting the three strangers again held an irresistible appeal for him. He knew that he _was _a special case - he was of Uchiha blood, to begin with, and was a prodigy even among that prestigious clan. But most of all, he was completely apathetic towards the clan's wishes. Their policies, their expectations - he no longer cared to fulfill them. And that was what made him special. But how could Akatsuki know that?

--

Itachi was not ignorant to the dangers of consorting with Akatsuki, however. Like any shinobi with an ounce of sense, he did his research, heading over to the library when he had a spare minute. From the way Sasori, Kakuzu and the blue-haired person had spoken of it, he figured that Akatsuki was either a town or some kind of group. After checking several atlases and finding no trace, he decided it was a group, which left him with a more difficult task. He tried what seemed to him like hundreds of books before he thought of something.

There had definitely been something shifty, suspicious about that threesome in the forest - he couldn't see them as being average, law-abiding citizens. Law-abiding; what if they were criminals? He visited the criminology section and soon hit upon a promising volume, entitled "A Lawbreaker's Encyclopaedia: a comprehensive guide to all people, places and things outside of the law". And there they were, under A: _Akatsuki. _

Itachi crouched there between bookshelves, heart beating faster than normal. It was a very short article, but he soaked up what little there was like a fish breathing in life-giving water through its gills.

_Akatsuki_ _is probably the most famous and feared of any criminal organization in history. It consists of the most dangerous criminals and missing-nins in the world. Information about this mysterious group is difficult to find, as most who had dealings with them did not emerge in any condition to tell stories, but Akatsuki's members are believed to wear long black cloaks decorated with red clouds as a type of uniform. It is said that they accomplish missions in pairs, and - _

Itachi sensed someone approaching at that moment, and he slammed the book shut and shoved it back on the shelf. If anyone saw him reading about a criminal organization, they would definitely be suspicious. He turned and stood, forcing a smile when he saw that it was Uchiha Shisui, his best friend.

Shisui grinned back at him. "Hey, Itachi!" he said. "What're you doing here, in the library? Becoming a bookworm?" Itachi was used to Shisui's constant stream of jokes and teasing, but wasn't really in the mood to play around today. "Yeah, sure," he said.

Itachi's less-than-jovialness seemed to get through to Shisui, because his grin faded as he asked, "Hey, what's up, man? You okay?" Then he added quickly, "On second thought, don't tell me - I've got enough problems without you dumping yours on me!" Not giving Itachi time to answer, he rushed on. "So, wanna go and train together? You've been away on so many missions lately, I've barely seen you. I missed our sessions."

This cheered Itachi a little. He always enjoyed time spent with Shisui, even if his friend went a bit overboard at times. "That sounds great, Shisui," he said, and meant it.

--

The knowledge that the three he'd met in the forest were dangerous criminals drew Itachi in at the same time as it repelled him. His rebellious side, so long stifled by the obedience enforced on him by the clan, was answering the call at last. So he met Akatsuki at the agreed time, ready to listen and hang around long enough to understand.

Sasori, Kisame and the blue-haired woman (who _still _hadn't told Itachi her name, and he was too polite to ask) filled him in on all the details. Apparently they had heard of his genius and incredible capabilities at such a young age and had immediately thought of him as their next member, seeing as they were lacking some. Itachi wasn't sure how he felt about this - it was flattering in a way, but also scary, and also oddly tempting. The clan would never condone this - but did he care about the clan anymore? Not really. And Akatsuki might actually be the escape he was looking for. Certainly he would still have to go on missions if he joined them, but he would not be controlled and pushed in every direction except the one he desired. He would be free to use his abilities as fully as he wished.

He told them he needed time to think about it. They didn't object, and merely set up another meeting time.

Throughout the next month or so, Itachi was almost as busy with Akatsuki as he was with his Konoha missions. Sasori, Kisame and Blue, as he referred to her in his mind, taught him things, things which he found much more useful than much of what he'd learned in the academy. But with every new lesson, he became more aware of how far behind them he was in skill. They were truly dangerous people, and Itachi wanted to reach their level. He knew he could, too, if he worked. And work was exactly what he did. He trained and trained, and trained some more, and he checked out practically every book of jutsus in the library, teaching himself as many as possible.

It was during one of the many hours he spent in the library that Itachi stumbled upon what would become his most powerful jutsu. He had just opened a book that explored all the attack methods of the Sharingan, and a small scroll had slipped out. Itachi bent down to pick it up. His eyes moved from side to side as they scanned the paper, and then widened. Hurriedly replacing the book in its place and slipping the scroll into his pocket, he practically sprinted home and locked himself in his room.

--

An hour later, Itachi was still sitting on his bed, and his hands were still shaking so badly he couldn't hold the scroll steady. What he'd read terrified him, not least because he was seriously _considering _it. What it suggested was unspeakably abominable, and yet he was thinking about doing it.

_The Mangekyou Sharingan..._Itachi thought. _Why haven't I ever heard of it before? _Although really, considering what you had to do to obtain this particular Sharingan ability, it made sense to hush it up.

Kill. Kill your closest friend. _That _was what you had to do. Murder them in cold blood, and then, supposedly, you would gain a special version of the Sharingan. By using this Mangekyou you could trap someone in a world created by you, where you could torture them for days, and yet only a second would pass by in the real world - it was called _Tsukuyomi_. That wasn't the only thing it could do, either, but it was enough for now. With something this big, and this horrible, you had to take it slow. And yet, if it was so horrible, why did Itachi _want _it so badly?

He knew why. It was powerful. To be able to completely incapacitate someone in a matter of seconds, just by looking in their eyes - that was truly formidable. And anyone who could wield it would be a truly formidable ninja.

Itachi's next meeting with Akatsuki decided it for him. He was still behind them, and now he could catch up so simply. _This very night, I will do it, _he thought as he returned home. Then he remembered that the Uchiha council was gathering tonight, and he was expected to be there. _It doesn't matter. If I don't do it tonight, I will never be able to. _

He left the house early that evening and dropped by Shisui's place. "Shisui," he said as soon as his friend had emerged, "I would like to speak with you. Will you walk by the river with me?"

"Sure," Shisui said. "But make it quick - the meeting, remember?" Itachi couldn't breathe for a moment - Shisui was grinning so widely, having no idea of what awaited him in a matter of minutes. But he could only swallow and nod. "It will be brief." _Oh, I do so hope it will be._

As they walked, Itachi asked out of the blue, "Shisui, do you ever feel..._used_...by the clan? As if all they care about is how well you do, not how well you _are_?" He glanced hopefully at his friend. Maybe, if Shisui felt the same way he did, he could find a way out of this - they could start off on their own together, and he would never have to commit this atrocious murder. But Shisui's response squished those dim hopes.

"Not really," Shisui said lightly, shrugging. "I mean, we belong to the clan, so it's only right that we use our abilities to help it flourish." Itachi's heart sank until he thought he could just reach down and pull it out of his shoes. Shisui was just like all the others - the Elders, his father, everyone who had pressured him into a life he hated. There was no way out of this. To break free of the ropes that chafed him more every day, he needed power, and sacrifices had to be made to get that power. Shisui would be the first sacrifice.

Itachi waited until they were along the edge of the very deepest part of the river, and then he just gave Shisui a little push. It was enough to send him sprawling, right into those dark, rushing waters. Not nearly as dark or rushing as Itachi's heart when he leaped in after Shisui, however. Shisui struggled, but being the stronger swimmer and better ninja of the two, Itachi subdued him. It was so hard, and yet so appallingly easy, to hold his best friend underwater, feeling the life drain out of him. Finally, when Itachi felt Shisui's body go limp, he released him, and swam ashore, soaking wet. He sat by the river for almost half an hour, dripping everywhere, staring at his hands, the same hands that had just felt death. Clean, damp hands, and yet dirty, permanently stained.

The confusion, the fear, the hurt, in Shisui's eyes as he looked at Itachi for the last time, would stay in his accursed memory forever.

--

Sasori, Kisame and Blue were all favourably impressed, and much astonished, by Itachi's Mangekyou Sharingan. "That ability will become famous one day," Blue predicted, very accurately as it turned out.

Itachi was slightly bothered that they didn't even bat an eye at the fact that he'd murdered Shisui to gain this ability. Kisame, in fact, _congratulated _him on committing his first murder. But Itachi couldn't shake the feeling that he'd overreached himself the day he ended the life of another human being, a human being who liked and trusted him - it was his first kill, and he was not as proud of it as his Akatsuki acquaintances thought he should be.

"Itachi," Sasori said, snapping Itachi out of his morbid thoughts.

"Yes?"

"I - we - believe you are ready to join Akatsuki, if that is your wish."

Itachi thought of Shisui's dying convulsions under that cold water, and almost backed out. But then he thought of his best friend's words that same night - _we belong to the clan, so it's only right that we use our abilities to help it flourish - _and everything in him rebelled. No! His abilities were his to use as he desired, and no longer would his every move be someone else's command. He had come this far along a path he was quite sure no Uchiha had ever followed before, and he would not turn away from what he now believed was his destiny.

"I do wish to be a part of Akatsuki, if there is a place for me," Itachi said. All three of his companions relaxed simultaneously. They had been watching him intensely, trying to figure out which way his internal struggle was going.

"Wicked!" Kisame celebrated, with a beastly grin. 'Wicked' seemed to be the perfect word. But Blue was not so hasty. "It's not quite that simple, Itachi," she informed him. "There is always an initiation. You must prove your worth to us, with an act of greatness."

"Please specify," Itachi said.

"Well, it must be great, but it must also be something else...think about what type of people we are, Itachi, and you will know what I'm getting at."

"What she _means _is, it has to be evil," Kisame said, seeming to take pleasure in this statement. "Like, _really _evil." He snickered.

Itachi looked at Sasori and Blue, and although they said nothing and looked a bit pained at Kisame's bluntness, their faces said it all: _Pretty much, yeah. _Itachi felt at a loss. Hadn't Shisui been enough? Apparently not. _Steel yourself, _he told himself. _Once you're actually in Akatsuki, you're going to have to commit acts of "evil" all the time. _

Sasori offered him some inspiration. "If you don't know what to do, think about whether anything stands in between you and your membership to Akatsuki. If there is something, eliminating it could count as your act of greatness." Either that was an extremely obvious hint, or random, eerie coincidence.

Itachi thought long and hard about it over the next few days. The Uchiha Clan. The only thing that stood in his way. The only thing that had _always _been in his way. _Eliminate? _he thought. _That word is much too gentle for what I'm about to do. _But he was going to do it nevertheless. What kind of person had he become, anyway?

--

That evening, the weather was calm. Deceptively calm, when Itachi compared it to the storm inside him. He left on his ANBU suit. ANBU was his job, and if he thought about this as a job, maybe he could do it more easily. He walked into the house. His mother looked up from the couch, where she was reading the newspaper. "Good evening, Itachi," she said with a smile.

Face blank, Itachi unsheathed his katana. The glint of the sharp steel was dulled by the lights, but the sight of it, held in his experienced hand, frightened _him _for a moment, as much as it did his mother, perhaps. He took a step forward and raised the blade.

The bloodshed began now.

--

Itachi stood in the living room by the bodies of his parents, bloody katana in hand. It was amazingly easy, he reflected, to kill people when you were close to them and they hadn't an inkling of what was coming. That was the main reason why the Uchiha clan was now extinct.

Well, almost extinct, Itachi corrected himself as Sasuke came barging through the door. Sasuke stared at his dead parents, his horror rendering him speechless for a moment, befor stating the obvious, that Mother and Father were no longer among the living. Then it dawned on him. "Aniki - you - why??" he gasped.

"To measure my container," Itachi replied mechanically. It seemed as good a way as any to describe his motives. It was pathetically simple to stop Sasuke from hurting him, and Itachi didn't mince words in letting him know it. But as he watched the pain on his brother's face as he was forced to live all the killing, he felt his conscience surge up. _Get down! _Itachi snarled at it. _You have no business here! _But it refused, and he was struck by an idea. _Sasuke...Otouto...you will be my conscience._

If God wished to punish him for his deeds, so be it - he would give him a fair chance. He would see if someone who remained faithful to the clan could defeat someone who crossed its boundaries and threw away its stupid ideals in pursuit of something bigger. Sasuke would live. Sasuke would hate. Sasuke would avenge.

"Foolish brother, if you wish to kill me, hate me, detest me, and survive in an unsightly way. Run, run and cling to life." Itachi knew he could not have chosen better words - words that would stay with Sasuke wherever he went, spurring him on in endless revenge. Words that would be more than enough to bring Itachi to his knees, if the punishment ever came about.

Itachi left his little brother, wracked with pain, and his former life, wracked with misery, there in the middle of the street. _The point of no return. _It was a phrase Itachi had seen in novels, usually the melodramatic kind, but Itachi had always thought it somewhat clever, in a poetic way.

He now realized there was no meaning in that old phrase, coined over and over again.

The meaning lay in what it took to get there. To the point of no return.

* * *

This chapter really took a lot out of me. Man, Itachi's memories take a long time to explain. He _seriously _has issues. :P But so does everyone else in Naruto, so he's not alone. He's only one of many characters that I think _really _could have used a Kids' Help Phone when they were younger. You may think that Itachi's sudden decent into "evil" was a bit unbelievable, but you have to take into account that he must always have been a bit dark to begin with, and all the pressure on him just pushed him that much further. Well, anyway, please reward my hard work with a review, and then I will reward you with a new chapter! Heh..hopefully that _is_ a reward. Anyway, gotta go. Thank you :) 


	8. Chapter 8: A Soul Mission

Never fear, Chapter 8 is here! This chapter has very little physical action, but a LOT of important emotional action, so bear with me and try to follow all the feelings. Read, enjoy, and review!

* * *

Chapter 8 - A Soul Mission

Sasuke found that his body was sore all over from the incredibly stiff position he'd been holding it in. There had been many moments during Itachi's recital when the pain of having the ruin of his life retold to him had been almost too much to take, and he had strained all his muscles trying to keep himself from jumping up to run away. But he'd toughed it out, and now he wasn't sure how he felt.

He looked at Itachi. His older brother seemed as composed as ever. But then Sasuke spotted those pale hands, folded in his lap, and saw that the knuckles were white, the skin stretched tightly over the bones. And he couldn't help but ask himself, _Was that as hard for him as it was for me - hearing all of those sinful deeds of the past, back to haunt him? _Itachi couldn't run away from them, because they were a part of him. He was stuck with them forever. And looking at his brother's face, which suddenly seemed terribly aged and haggard, Sasuke wondered how many times Itachi had lain alone in the dead of night and realized that cold, hard fact.

Itachi was using all of his powers of observation and deduction to try to figure out Sasuke's reaction to his explanation. _He's completely torn, _Itachi decided. _But between which emotions? _He wondered if it had sounded like he was trying to find an excuse for his behaviour. He wasn't sure if that was what he wanted - as Sasuke had pointed out, it was all his fault, but he was certain that the conditions of his childhood had been factors in everything he'd done. Whether Sasuke accepted or cared about that fact, he wouldn't venture to guess. He wasn't going to venture staying here and taking his chances with an extremely emotionally unstable Sasuke, either.

"If you wish to further discuss anything, Sasuke," Itachi told his brother noncommittally as he rose lithely to his feet, "you will find me at Naruto's."

_Naruto actually let him sleep over? I thought he was kidding about that! _Sasuke thought, aghast. _Is Naruto still _alive?!! He opened his mouth to threaten Itachi with the direst consequences if any harm should come to Naruto by his hand, only to discover that he was already gone. Scowling, Sasuke stood and walked into the house to do some serious thinking.

He wavered between the couch and the hardwood floor, then chose the floor. The couch was too comfortable for thoughts and feelings like the ones he was having. He sat down, and, with the utmost reluctance, called upon Inner Sasuke. His inner voice was the most annoying sound in the galaxy, but he had to admit, it _knew _things.

_**So I **_**know **_**things, do I? **_the Inner Voice sounded amused. _**I should hope so.**_

_Help me out here! _Sasuke begged. _There's too much inside for one person to figure out alone!_

_**Well, after the way you treated me, I don't think you deserve my help.**__All right, fine. I'm sorry. But you were the one who called me an angsty jerkface._

_**That's because you **_**are.**

_Is "angsty" even a real word?_

_**Ask your big brother. He's smart. And he's probably copied the dictionary with his Sharingan by now.**_

_Why would he waste time ridiculously like that??_

_**So that he wouldn't have to waste time arguing with his inner voice, idiot.**_

_Let's cut the insults and move on, all right? About Itachi's explanation...do you think he was lying?_

Inner Sasuke was definite on this one. _**No. **_Sasuke kept silent for a little bit, trying desperately, and fruitlessly, to hide his thoughts from his inner self.

_**You're almost wishing he was lying, because then it would be so easy - you could just go on hating him blindly like before. **_Inner Sasuke was especially blunt today. _**You have got to get this whole hate thing into proportion. You can't pretend things aren't changing, so stop acting like he isn't changed. Like **_**you **_**aren't changed. He was completely honest with you, now you can at least be honest with yourself.**_

Sasuke found being scolded by his own self less than pleasant, but he knew that his inner voice had a point. _All right. I'll be honest - I don't know what to think. It sounded a bit like he was trying to blame his actions on the clan, but it also sounded like..._

_**...like that's not altogether a lie, **_Inner Sasuke finished for him. _**Think about it from his point of view for a minute. He was thirteen. His family was watching him, his colleagues were watching him, the Hokage was watching him, the whole darned town was watching him. They were just watching and waiting for him to either soar above the sun or fall with a spectacular smash. And if it was the latter, no one was going to step in to catch him. Don't you think that might have caused him to get a really screwed-up image of life, and right and wrong? He was young, he was angry, he was sad, he was in pain. He was trapped inside a cardboard box without air holes, and he was suffocating. He was desperate.**_

_Well, now he's out of his stupid cardboard box, thanks to his massacre! _Sasuke snarled.

_**You think so? You think he ever really escaped from that box? He obviously found a way to punch some air holes into it, but just look at him, silent and alone. He was a boy who made some bad choices and no one was there, and now he's a man who made some bad choices, and still no one's there.**_

Sasuke thought about it. He knew about pressure - being the top rookie of his year, all the teachers and students were right at his elbow, watching his every step. He had never cared about those expectations, having one definite goal that left everything else in the dust. But for Itachi, who had had no other future outside of the one the clan had in mind for him - it must have been different. And the amount of pressure on Sasuke's shoulders couldn't hold a candle to what Itachi must have gone through, and borne.

_Maybe the clan trapped him in a word of endless pressure and strain just like he trapped me in a world of pain and loneliness. Maybe he wanted to escape, like I did. Maybe he went the wrong way about it, like I did. Maybe he didn't know how to turn around, just like I did. And maybe there was no Naruto to teach him. _

Sasuke couldn't believe he had just related himself to Itachi. He was _nothing _like Itachi - nothing at all! He wasn't the one who had killed an entire clan _(you were willing to go as far as killing your best friends to achieve your ends, _his heart whispered), he wasn't the one who had joined a criminal organization and taken on missions of unspeakable abomination _(you left Konoha to train with a man you _knew _was evil), _he wasn't the one who returned from his sins begging for forgiveness _(you didn't have to - your friends didn't ask it of you). _

Sasuke sent a firm order to his brain, heart and soul - SHUT UP. Unfortunately, none of them complied. He sighed and leaned against the mantelpiece, dislodging an object that rested on top of it. It fell, bouncing off Sasuke's shoulder to land on the floor with a clunk. He picked it up and turned it over. It was a slim white binder with the Uchiha fan symbol on the front - a photo album, one of the few family items Sasuke hadn't burned after the deaths of his loved ones.

He opened it and leafed through the laminated pages. There were a lot of empty pockets; Sasuke assumed that they had all contained photographs showing Itachi. He had done his best to remove every trace of his brother from his life, but he had only been able to destroy the material memories, so it had been pretty much pointless.

Sasuke flipped over another page, and there, in the top centre pocket, was a photograph portraying his brother. He'd probably been around twelve then. _How did I miss this one? _Sasuke wondered, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from it. Itachi, dark eyes crinkled in his young, unwrinkled face, a small but true smile playing across his lips, sat comfortably on the porch steps in front of the compound. _He looks...happy, _Sasuke thought. Was this boy already suffocating, already being crushed by all the pressure, when this photo was taken? Sasuke noticed the half-visible handle of the kunai clutched in Itachi's left hand. _Even in those rare moments when he wasn't trying to live up to someone's expectations, he could never get away from the reality of his ninja duties. _

A few days ago, Sasuke knew he would have cheerfully torn this picture to shreds the moment he saw it. So why did he now feel the urge to stare at it, memorize it, never let go of it? It was his hated brother...his traitorous brother...his cherished brother.

Sasuke suddenly stood up, walked over to the door, and threw it open, striding out into the street. He knew what he had to do. He knew what he _wanted _to do. His heart was finally getting through to him.

* * *

He knocked on the door, as painfully orange as he remembered it. A familiar blue-eyed, whiskered face opened it with a grin.

"Hey, Naruto," Sasuke said, black eyes intent, as if he were on a mission, which he was - a soul mission. "Is Itachi there?"

* * *

Ooh, a turning point in Sasuke's and Itachi's relationship - but a turn in which direction? _Dun dun dun..._

You probably see what I mean about "emotional action" now. Come to think of it, this story seems to be 90 percent emotional action. Well, that's how it is between Sasuke and Itachi, I guess. Hope you liked the chapter, but whether you did or didn't, please review and tell me your opinion of the story so far. Thank you so very much to all of you great people who reviewed - 22 reviews is the most I've ever gotten on one story! Keep it up, and I will too!


	9. Chapter 9: Ideal Friend, Ideal Enemy

I didn't originally intend this to be the last chapter, but when I finished it I just thought, "Well, this seems like a good place to end." I don't know if you'll agree, but if you don't, it may comfort you to know that I am seriously considering a sequel. But however things turn out, please enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 9 - Ideal Friend, Ideal Enemy 

A few minutes later, the sole remaining members of the prestigious Uchiha clan ambled down the street together. Itachi seemed at ease, if you could ever call his cold, formal manner "at ease", but Sasuke was uncomfortable, and it showed. He would glance at Itachi's face, then quickly look down at the ground, then slowly move his gaze until it rested on Itachi's feet. _It was so much easier when I just wanted to kill him, _he thought wryly.

"It was wrong to make you my conscience," Itachi said quietly. "Your pull is too powerful." He turned his head, and Sasuke thought he glimpsed a sparkle of light in those deadened eyes, but it might just have been the fading sun playing on his irises. "But then again, perhaps it was right to do so."

"But your conscience hasn't punished you yet," Sasuke pointed out. "I haven't defeated you."

"Haven't you?" Itachi said. Now Sasuke was sure the sparkle was there, but he didn't know what it meant. He didn't know what Itachi meant either.

"You defeated me through myself," Itachi explained. When he saw that Sasuke was completely at a loss, his eyes crinkled. "You'll see what I mean one day."

Sasuke felt cheated for some reason. "But - I haven't gotten my revenge!" he protested, although he wasn't sure if this was even relevant to their topic of discussion.

**_Or have you? _**his inner voice asked slyly. **_He's utterly at your mercy, and he knows it. But he still walks beside you and hopes. What kind of position is that for an S-ranked criminal? And you act like he has an _advantage. _Honestly, for a genius clan, you Uchihas are awfully dense sometimes. _**

Sasuke didn't even bother telling the voice to shut up. It was no use anyway. "Which of us is strongest?" he asked suddenly. He didn't know why, but it would be interesting to hear Itachi's opinion.

Itachi considered the question. Its many possible meanings confused him at the same time as they made his answer clear. "I couldn't say," he said at last. "But I believe that we are each other's strength, as well as one another's weakness. This makes us both ideal friends and ideal enemies."

"What about something between friends and enemies?" Sasuke wondered, tone and expression careful. These were uncharted waters he was navigating. "Such as...brothers?"

They both turned toward each other simultaneously, and saw themselves mirrored in one anothers' faces. Surprise, solemnity, fascination, they were all there, as well as - brotherhood?

They turned away quickly, and even though they faced in opposite directions, they somehow knew that they were both smiling.

* * *

A certain pink-haired kunoichi was very surprised, and very intrigued, to spot her teammate Sasuke-kun walking at the side of a tall black-haired male who most definitely was not Naruto, or anyone else she knew. 

Sakura opened her window more and stuck her head outside, emerald eyes alight with interest. No, she was sure she had never seen this stranger, although from this angle he actually bore an eerie resemblance to Sasuke-kun. He wore no forehead protector, so she could only assume he wasn't a shinobi - but if so, then why did he have a kunai holster wrapped around his leg? She strained her eyes, but the man's appearance gave nothing else away.

Then something extraordinary happened. Sasuke-kun _smiled. _He _never _smiled. And Sakura should know - she had been his comrade for several years now, after all. But what else could you call that smooth upturning of the lips and the rising of the cheekbones?

_Wow, who _is _that guy? _Sakura wondered, amazed. _He must be something, to get Sasuke-kun to smile. _She watched the two individuals, one familiar and the other not, turn into another street and vanish from her range of sight. That sleek, loose black hair and lined face didn't leave her mind, however, even when she climbed into bed and pulled the covers up to her neck.

_Is he Sasuke-kun's friend? _

* * *

The image of a Jounin crouching on a village rooftop, a silver splash of hair bursting from his head, was not an uncommon sight in Konoha. And you didn't need to look any further than the orange book clutched in his hands to know which Jounin it was.

No, this was not a rare occurrence, but what was going on underneath was.

Hatake Kakashi lowered his explicit novel slowly and followed the scene unfolding in front of him with one astonished eye. _That's Sasuke, _he noted, _but who's with him? _He gasped and pulled down his mask to reveal his Sharingan when the realization dawned on him. This was not the first time he'd seen an orderly bush of black hair like that, dark, narrow eyes like that, or a prematurely wrinkled face like that.

_What???!! Not..._him?? Kakashi was extremely intelligent by any standards, but he simply couldn't wrap his mind around the outlandishness of this scenario. He jumped up, fully prepared to head straight for the Hokage's office to report this.

Then something extraordinary happened. Sasuke _smiled. _He _never _smiled. And Kakashi should know - he had been his teacher for several years now, after all. The book slipped from Kakashi's nerveless hands and clattered onto the roof, and Kakashi didn't even notice.

_But...isn't he Sasuke's enemy?_

_

* * *

_A blond-haired, blue-eyed young ninja slurped his dinner noisily at a table in (where else?) Ichiraku Ramen. It was his eighth bowl, but, as always, he wanted more. Unfortunately, his wallet was letting him down as usual. Sighing regretfully, he stood, bid good-bye to the restaurant's proprietor, who was an old friend by now, and headed home. 

Naruto suddenly noticed two figures ahead of him, and, his eyes widening in recognition, he ducked into an alleyway. The first figure was possibly the most well-known of his life - his best friend Uchiha Sasuke. The second figure was more of an acquaintance, but a reasonably pleasurable one, Naruto thought.

_I wonder what they're talking about, _Naruto mused. _Hopefully violence and hatred isn't a big part of the conversation. _He pressed himself further into shadow as they passed by, not wanting to disturb what seemed to be an important dialogue.

Then something extraordinary happened. Sasuke _smiled. _He _never _smiled. And Naruto should know - he had been his comrade for several years now, after all. Naruto gawked in pure amazement and almost stepped out to say, "What the heck?!" Then he realized what that smile, especially coming from Sasuke, must mean, and a huge grin spread over his own face.

He watched their retreating backs and decided to wait until he was home to start whooping, just to make sure he'd be out of earshot.

_He's Sasuke's brother._

**The End **

* * *

Well, that is _Barriers and Bridges, _officially complete. I just thought of this - the title may not seem to have much to do with the story, but if you think about Itachi and Sasuke's relationship, I'm sure you'll see a connection, just like I did when I made it up. Also, I don't _think _Sakura sees Itachi at anytime before Shippuden, does she? This story takes place right before everything that happens in Shippuden, with some AU-ness where Sasuke is concerned. 

I really, really want to thank everyone who read and reviewed this story - you guys made this fic amazingly enjoyable for me as a writer! Please review this chapter, too - it's your last chance!

As for the sequel - as I mentioned at the top, I am thinking about doing one. I have a few plot bunnies bouncing around in my head that I could use. This isn't definite, but it is likely. If I do write a sequel, I sincerely hope you will all check it out and review it, and I hope you'll all like it as much, or more, than you did this one. Thank you all so very, very much for sticking with this story:)


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